1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to cameras, and in particular to cameras including a display, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), which displays information regarding the functions performed by the camera, and a controller, such as a CPU, for controlling the display as well as other camera components, such as, for example, a shutter mechanism, a lens system having a variably adjustable focal distance, an automatic focus (AF) mechanism, and/or an automatic exposure (AE) mechanism. In particular, the present invention is directed to the arrangement of the display and the controller in the camera to provide an efficient layout that facilitates compactness and miniaturization of the camera.
2. Description of Related Art
It is desirable in compact cameras to design for miniaturization of the camera as a whole to improve their ease of use and portability. Therefore, it is desirable to miniaturize a camera by providing internal components in a layout as efficiently as is possible. In particular, with this type of camera in order to respond to the demands of miniaturization, it is necessary to incorporate at suitable locations within the main body of the camera various structural components and structural elements, such as the tube containing the photographic lens, the shutter mechanism, the film canister compartment, the film winding spool compartment, the viewfinder device, the automatic exposure device, the automatic focus device, the flash device, the motor drive device and the LCD for displaying various types of information.
In recent years various strategies have been devised regarding the layout and positioning of various electronic parts to be incorporated into the main body of a camera in order to facilitate miniaturization and to boost the degree of camera precision. With these conventional cameras, in order to incorporate these various electronic parts within the main body of the camera in a compact manner, designers have integrated parts on circuit boards by attaching components on a number of separate circuit boards, which are placed in various locations throughout the main body of the camera. The camera can be made compact by efficiently placing these circuit boards at prescribed places within the main body of the camera.
With such cameras, it has become common to use a CPU to control the functions of the various camera parts, including the information display on the LCD, which displays various data such as the frame number on the roll of film and setting data for various photographic modes of the camera. In addition, the component driving circuits which contain the LCD and the CPU have been laid out levelly and integrated on circuit boards by using printed circuit boards situated, for example, in the upper portion of the camera body because the LCD usually is provided on the upper surface of the camera.
When a designer lays out and levelly integrates the components such as the LCD and the CPU on top of the circuit board, the designer must ensure a certain amount of additional surface area on the circuit board in order to accommodate switching structures of components also located on top of the camera. These other components include the shutter release button, the telephoto lens control for use in zooming, the button for operating the wide-angle lens, and the button for operating each type of camera mode setting with the main switch of the camera, for example. Consequently, a problem arises whereby the circuit board is enlarged and the camera body containing the circuit board also becomes large.
Hence, it is common to incorporate the large-sized circuit board by splitting the circuit board into multiple structures and arranging these structures in a number of locations throughout the camera in order to facilitate miniaturization of the camera while ensuring sufficient circuit board surface area.
Nevertheless, with the incorporation of this type of multiple circuit board technology, the interior structure of the camera becomes complex, and the components increase in number causing costs to rise. Furthermore, it is necessary to use lead wires, flexible printed circuit boards, etc. in order to link the multiple circuit boards to each other. This results in an increase in the number of components and intricate connection work. This also increases the possibility of the generation of defective products due to flawed connections arising during the manufacturing and handling of the product. This becomes a problem in terms of the ability to construct the product and in terms of cost efficiency.
Also, when the number of circuit boards increase, disadvantages also arise in inspecting components attached to each circuit board, along with the rising complexity of assembling and handling the circuit boards when affixing them within the main body of the camera.
Furthermore, as the connection distance increases between the LCD and the CPU, which require many electrical connections therebetween, a problem also arises in that electrical noise and other adverse influences appear during signal transmission.
In addition to the CPU, which is integrated upon the circuit boards, wiring connections from the shutter mechanism for the lens shutter located near the photographic lens optics also are connected to the flexible printed circuit boards. However, in this instance also, there are a large number of connection patterns and the connection process grows in complexity as the number of separate circuit boards increases.
Additionally, insofar as the flexible printed circuit board from this type of shutter mechanism is concerned, the designer must consider that within a camera having photographic lens optics with an adjustable focal distance, movements are transmitted in conjunction with the extension and retraction of the optical components. Therefore, it is necessary to fix the end of the connection part of the flexible printed circuit securely onto the circuit board.
Specifically, it is desirable in compact cameras to miniaturize the overall size insofar as possible to boost their portability and ease of use. It is desirable to arrange the main body of the camera, including the component assembly design, as efficiently and compactly as possible to achieve this miniaturization. It is desirable, therefore, to formulate some sort of strategy to be able to solve these problem points.